Emplacement and exhumation of the Kuznetsk-Alatau basement (Siberia): implications for the tectonic evolution of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt and sediment supply to the Kuznetsk, Minusa and West Siberian Basins.

Terra Nova, 23, 248-256, 2011 Abstract New geochronological data [zircon U/Pb, titanite fission-track (TFT) and apatite fission-track (AFT) dating and apatite (U-Th-Sm)/He thermochronology] and thermal history modelling yield constraints on the development of the granitoid basement of the Kuznetsk-Alatau Mountains, southern Siberia. The final stages of magmatism in the Kuznetsk-Alatau palaeo-island-arc are Late Cambrian, and collision of the arc with Siberia occurred in the Early Ordovician. The basement was exhumed by the Early Devonian. Continuous Devonian-Early Triassic sedimentation filled the adjoining Kuznetsk and Minusa basins and buried (and re-heated) the Kuznetsk-Alatau basement. After initial Pangaea break-up and Siberian flood-basalt magmatism, the basement reached TFT and AFT retention-temperatures in the Middle Triassic and Early Cretaceous, respectively, during denudation-induced cooling. Terra Nova, 00, 1-9, 2011 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]